Gift
by Zovid
Summary: Claire's birthday is comming up sooner then Peter had planned and when he bought her what he beleived was the perfect gift she claims that it wasn't what she wanted. Paire. ONESHOT


**Gift **By: _Oliver.Artemis_

He hadn't known her for too long, four, maybe five months tops. But Claire Bennett's birthday was coming up soon, and a birthday still needed to be acknowledged. Especially if she lived with him now and away from her family. Who else would she share it with? There was Hiro and Ando, but they already had planned out what they were going to give her. A cake made by Hiro, who had taken a fascination in baking, and a shirt that Ando had a feeling Claire would truly enjoy. But Peter was at a lost. What could he get her?

It was two weeks before her birthday and soon two weeks turned into one week, which turned into five days, and out of nowhere springing up on Peter, her birthday was tomorrow and he was still left without a gift. So he sat hopelessly on his couch his head in his hands, while Claire was in the room that she had adapted into calling her own, happy that her birthday was tomorrow. In her room she hummed a joyful tune, since it had been awhile when she was really happy. The death of her friend, the truths of her father revealed, and having to leave her home to live with a man who saved her life but hardly knew wasn't exactly what a seventeen going on eighteen year old teenager deals with.

But tomorrow was her birthday and unless Sylar had come to kill her then, she was happy. She listened to her mp3player, lying on her back on her bed. Every hour she had been counting down to her birthday. Even despite what had been going on she couldn't forget the day truly about her. Peter too was counting down the hours, as he tried to think of a present. He could have gotten her something simple, but felt that it just wouldn't seem right. He continued to sit in despair as he thought of a gift, so deep into his thoughts he didn't see Claire bounce into the living room.

"Peter…" She said in a sing song voice. "Only…" She looked over to the clock "…ten more hours till my birthday." Claire sang as she sat next to him on the couch. "So did you get me anything?" She questioned taking the head set out of her ears and pausing her mp3player while placing it on the coffee table. Peter felt guilty not having a gift for her, and nodded with a convincing smile. "Yay!" She clapped her hands excited and gave him a hug. Peter's fake smile soon melted into a real one.

"Um…I'm going out for awhile okay. Stay here and don't look for your gift." Peter said as he felt a pang of guilt hit him knowing no matter how hard she looked she would never find her gift in the small place. She gave him an innocent grin and nodded.

"What ever you say Petey." Peter rolled his eyes but smile none the less and stood up picking up his jacket. He took it and walked out thinking of what to buy her. He could always pick her up a sweater, but that would seem like it had no meaning. Not that he was trying to show any meaning in his gifts. Maybe he could buy her a snow globe, but what the hell would she do with it. Stare at it until her brains fell out to save Sylar the trouble of cutting her head open? He smacked his hand against his forehead before running his fingers through his hair. He passed by a toy shop and stared into it before realizing that she would be to old for toys.

But a thought hit him and he walked into the shop. A good twenty minutes later, he came out with a smile on his face and a gift concealed in his coat. He strode back to his place and came into see Claire had fallen asleep on the couch, the blanket he normally used pulled up to her chin.

"Oh, so she can sleep on the couch when I'm not here, but when I am she needs the bed." Peter said as he walked into the room with his gift. It had been wrapped with an additional fee and he thought if she'd like it or not. He placed it in his underwear drawer knowing she had enough dignity not to look there. Peter smiled to himself no longer having to worry about her gift. He walked over to the bed and fell on it burying his face into his pillow and taking a deep breath before releasing it into a heavy sigh. He noticed how much it smelled of strawberries and a bit of perfume from Claire. Part of him was imagining it was actually Claire that was near him and not his pillow then shook the thought out of his head. She wasn't even legal yet. Well she almost was, but barely.

Without knowing he had fallen asleep, his shoes kicked off but his button down and his jeans constricting him as he continued in his deep slumber. Claire had snuck back in scared when she called out his name and heard no reply. It was late, around ten and she was about to sing to him that there was two more hours till her birthday. She was relieved to find him sleeping on 'her' bed and giggled to himself as he rolled over frustrated by his tucked shirt and released it from it's tuck. Leaving him there she simply changed and just fell asleep next to him.

The next day though was just a bunch of smiles when Claire woke up. Peter was not in the bed, and she shrugged wanting to sleep until noon, not realizing it was noon. So groggily getting up she saw Peter, Hiro, and Ando sitting on the couch, a cake on the coffee table with eighteen candles lit. She squealed no longer feeling sleepy and rushed over to them and sat between Ando and Hiro as she blew out the candles. Hiro clapped eagerly as Ando handed her his gift. Claire pulled out the shirt and smiled, thanking him and hugging him. The two Japanese men left and Claire had a piece of the cake. Coffee cake, what a way to start her birthday.

"So…" Claire said as Peter got up and cleared the room and did the dishes. She followed him into the kitchen and traced one finger from his back to his left side and stared at him. "Where's my gift…" She said. Peter gave her a lopsided grin and shook his hands of excess water while putting her dish away.

"Greedy one aren't you?" Peter said earning him a smack on the shoulder. He laughed. "Alright, alright." He said as he directed her towards the couch and had her sit. "Close your eyes and just sit tight." Claire did what she was told, peaking occasionally to see where he was going. When she saw him coming back, he saw her eyes. "Hey no peaking." He said in a happy tone. Her eyes snapped back shut and he sit his gift down on her lap. "Go ahead and open your eyes." On her lap was a misshapen wrapped up gift. "Well open it." He encouraged.

She looked over her shoulder to him, not realizing how close he was behind the couch and then turned her attention back to the gift and pulled at the wrapping paper. Uncovered was a small white polar bear with a heart that said Claire Bear that covered it's stomach.Peter had taken this time to turn back to the kitchen to see if he could occupy himself with anything and cursed himself for already doing the dishes. Claire stared at the cute bear and stood up setting it down.

"Thank you Peter, it's really cute." Peter blushed as he continued to fluster through cabinets pretending to be doing something.

"No problem, happy birth-" He said his back still towards her, his neck red from embarrassment.

"But that's not what I wanted for my birthday from you." Claire said shyly causing Peter to turn towards her in confusion.

"Well what did you want? I could get it for you now." Peter said feeling bad that she wasn't exactly thrilled about her gift.

"Really you'd do that?" She asked with a bit of hope sparkling in her eyes.

"Yeah, just name it and it's yours." And before he could continue on, she had taken on step towards him, placed her hands at his shoulders and pushed herself up so that her lips touched his in a sweet kiss. Peter stood there stunned.

"I wanted you for my birthday." She said before pulling away. She blushed a dark crimson and quickly leaving the kitchen while grabbing the bear and ran to her room. She sighed burying her face into the pillow. Her fingers traveled to her lips as a smile lingered at the corners. The door banged open, forcing her to jolt up into a sitting postion and making her cling on to her bear. Peter stood in the door way, his shirt off a smirk on his face. Claire blushed as he closed the door and made his way over to the bed and crawled all the way up to her. His eyes met hers and she searched them.

"You don't like the bear?" He asked in a husky voice. Claire was excited, she wouldn't hide it and so when she responded she squeaked.

"No, no I like it." She stumbled a bit on her words and he just continued to hold his grin, as the smile on her face never faded.

"Good. Happy Birthday Claire Bear." He said to her as he crashed his lips to hers. Every night she held that bear close to her in her arms, while Peter held her close to him in his arms.

**A/n: Yay! I finished it. I thought it was cute.**


End file.
